Accepting His Ways (Quinlan O'Connor Book 2)

by Alyssa Bailey

  “That isn’t what I mean. You can’t just fix this. It takes time. I need you to understand that those are my feelings and support me as I deal with them. Help me by allowing me time to put things in their proper place in my own life and then in our life.”

  “Okay, what can I do then?” Quinn pulled her back into his arms and cuddled.

  “Just don’t get irritated when I work through all of my feelings. Don’t get impatient and try to take over. Promise you won’t get out of control.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t see how that is going to help. I’m a good fixer.” He looked at her face and agreed. “Fine. You tell me what you need and I’ll try to meet those needs.”

  She smiled and leaned up. “I love you, Mr. O’Connor.”

  He met her lips part way. “And I love you, Mrs. O’Conner.”

  Finally, the apartment was packed, moved to storage, and the apartment cleaned in time for the New Year celebration and a few days of nothing but relaxation to calm frayed nerves and finalize their plans. Quinn would go to the training and Cheyenne would stay at his parents’ house until he returned. He had the movers set to pick up and move their things to the new house in Montana near the end of January as his reporting date was February first.

  Telling his thoroughly satiated wife goodbye for a few weeks was difficult but a necessity. He kissed her one last time, landed a solid swat on her bottom for a “deterrent” and off he went for three long weeks.

  Cheyenne missed him already by the afternoon and while life with Sean and Siobhan was filled with love and laughter, she missed having things to do. It was the very busiest time of the year and she was anxious to get things started but she was out of her normal working environment and everything felt off. She was more than restless and hated how irritable she was becoming. Work was not as satisfying as it had been. She used Da’s office for the O’Connor accounting and it was easier to have immediate access to their records but not enough to stave off the aimlessness of the days.

  Quinn called daily but Cheyenne grew more restless and she decided she would pick up her gear, household things and go to the new house. She was anxious to leave and get there after she made the decision. Quinn would be back on the twentieth and the house would be empty by the fifteenth. He had arranged for their things to meet them there on the twenty-third and she would have to change it up by ten days. He had everything set up perfectly so to not repeat Liam’s mistakes.

  Quinn had told her to wait for him, but she was so ready to get going in her new life she decided to drive to the Circle C and visit until the furniture arrived. Cheyenne knew that if Quinn was not happy with her, it didn’t matter if they were newlyweds or not, she would most certainly feel his displeasure. For some reason, her head knowledge didn’t speak to the rest of her and she made the decision to go early. When she called her sisters-in-law to tell them she was preparing to come early, they all advised against it. In fact, Kelli went on to recount several times in her early life when she had chosen to go against Quinn and the dire consequences she suffered because of it. When she told Siobhan that she was leaving, that good woman tried to talk her out of it as well.

  “Cheyenne, I’m always going to try to back you up whenever I can, and not step into your marriage or your decisions, but you need to rethink this. Quinn can toe the line pretty hard and if he was very specific, and he was about this, it just would not do to go against him. Honey, I would hope a little self-preservation would kick in here. You and I both know what Quinn will do if you leave early against his expressed wishes. You know that his choice to plan this so carefully was because he had seen Liam and Jocelyn’s problems. He didn’t want that to happen to you.”

  “I know, Mom, but listen. I know Quinn might be upset a little bit, but he’ll be so relieved that he doesn’t have to do anything except learn his new job.”

  “Cheyenne, that’s not how it works and you know it. You and I both know you just want to defy Quinn and do what you want to do. Unfortunately, I think you’re just going to have to learn from your mistakes. But I’m going to have to call Da and let him know.”

  “Why do you have to do that?”

  “Because, my dear, he’s my husband and I don’t want the retribution that would come if I didn’t tell him before you left so he had an opportunity to talk to you. That’s how I’ve learned to keep peace in my home.” She hugged Cheyenne.

  Sean came home at lunch as normal and tried to change her mind. After a few moments, he seemed to make a decision within himself.

  “Cheyenne, if you think this is going to make Quinn happy, to move everything without him you’re sadly mistaken and need to probably learn your own lesson. You need to learn that your husband says things because, in most cases, he stopped and thought them out and he’s protecting you. I don’t know why you think a couple of days are going to make a lot of difference in moving but it sure can make a lot of difference in how Quinn deals with that decision. I have no problem telling you that if you were mine, sitting would not be something you would be comfortable with for quite a long time. And I’m pretty sure we both know Quinn well enough to say that you might not be sitting for quite a while after every Friday night.”

  Sean let the reality of that set in for a while.

  “I’d think hard before I’d make a decision you’re undoubtedly going to regret.” Sean leaned over to kiss his wife; kissed Cheyenne on the top of the head gathered his gear and walked back out the door to the ranch.

  Cheyenne was intelligent enough to know that she would not be allowed to go alone if Da knew that she was going to leave for certain. She also knew that if Sean called Quinn and told him of her plans, Quinn would have made it impossible for her to go without him. So she did the only thing she could, she played it as if she had been convinced to stay. Come first light, she was up putting her bags at the door of Quinn’s childhood bedroom that they’d shared upon returning from their honeymoon. She waited for Sean to leave and Siobhan to get busy with household work.

  Slipping out the door with her bags when Siobhan went to take her morning shower, she left a note that said, “Ran to get a little work done at Jacquie’s. Be back in a couple of hours.”

  She followed that note with a phone call at 11:00 a.m., before Da came home for lunch, and said she was having lunch and catching a movie with a friend and would be back by dinner. Sean saw right through the subterfuge and called her two minutes after coming home for lunch. Reaching to answer the phone call that she had expected, Cheyenne braced herself for the chastisement from the man she truly loved as her own father.

  “Hello, Da.”

  “Hello indeed. Are you driving?”

  “No, sir. I mean yes, sir, but I have my Bluetooth on. I wouldn’t be on my phone and drive.”

  “Well, after this stunt, young lady, I would not be sure of anything. And you do not ‘hello Da’ me when you’ve snuck out of my house and disobeyed your husband. Where are you, cailín dána?”

  Feeling like the naughty little girl Sean had called her and the shame she was sure he meant her to feel, Cheyenne took a deep breath and said, “Mmm, almost to Bozeman.” Cheyenne rushed on, “Da, don’t be angry. I needed to do something and it’s a clear day. I'm very safe. I’m sorry, just please; please don’t be angry with me.”

  Sean tried to keep his gruff voice but he was a softie when it came to the women in his family like all the O’Connor men.

  “You need your bottom spanked real good my cailín dána, but I expect Quinn will handle that when he gets his hands on you. You need to apologize to Mom for deceiving her.”

  Cheyenne waited for the voice of the woman she had grown to love unreservedly. With a hitch in her own voice, she apologized.

  “I’m so sorry, Mom. I didn’t think of how you might feel. I’m inconsiderate. Please forgive me.”

  “Oh, darlin’, I know how you feel. That won’t be saving your bottom, I’m fair sure, but I love ya. Now you’ll be very careful on that road and the pass, un
derstand.”

  “I will.”

  Da grabbed the phone back and added, “And you call us when you get to the ranch. I expect you to call your husband once you’re there. Promise me you’ll be respectful because he isn’t going to be happy with you. Not one bit. Remember you don’t complain when he's taking off his belt. Do you understand me? You’ve earned this.”

  Cheyenne had a moment of doubt and she sniffled before asking, “Da, this will be all right, won’t it? I mean…”

  Sean heard the uncertainty and quickly relieved it, “Yes, sweetheart. This will be all right. Your husband’s going to be angry and you’re going to feel the result of his discipline, but he loves you and only wants the best for you. That, thankfully, is never going to change. You daughters are so very spicy at times.” Sean roughened up his voice just a bit, “Now, if I don’t hear from you by the time I come in this afternoon, I’ll have the boys paddle you in my stead. Do you understand me?”

  Cheyenne smiled. She knew everything would be okay now. She loved and trusted Quinn with her life and she suddenly realized that she would trust any of the O’Connor men with it as well. It also helped that she knew they would not do as Da suggested with Quinn soon home. They would leave it up to him, no matter how much they might have palms itching to meet her bottom.

  “Yes, sir. I understand. I love you both. I’ll call soon.”

  She arrived at Katie's house to an unexpected response. To those who had been in the O’Connor family for a while, it was an expected response to her coming without Quinn as everyone heard him tell her she was waiting until he came home to get her. After admonitions from Liam and Ciarán about there being a mere two-week difference between when Quinn had them arrive with furniture and today, they turned her over to their wives. They knew their wives had done much the same things in their own way and probably would often do them again.

  After dealing with the worries of retribution from the women, calls to Da to check in and Quinn to confess her transgressions, things were calmed down enough for Cheyenne to relax. As expected, Quinn, who promised a discussion of her decision when he returned, left no doubt as to the type of discussion to prepare for. All of her sins fully disclosed, she finally was able to settle into their short-term home until their O’Connor house was completed in the spring.

  Cheyenne quickly went about setting the little three-bedroom place to rights, catching up on her accounting, and doing everything she could to make it perfect for when Quinn did come home. She told herself it had been a good decision even if she hadn’t heard the last of it because she was feeling more settled. She had all of her accounts laid out and ready to receive the last work before tax time submissions.

  The day that Cheyenne had been both excited and nervous to arrive, finally did dawn. All that it promised to be was fulfilled. Hoping that if it were perfect he would be glad she had done it or at least satisfied with the outcome, she worked extra hard to make it all perfect.

  “Cheyenne, are you never going to get that I’m the boss?” questioned Quinn as he prepared to set his bride straight about the ill-advised but ultimately harmless choice of coming to the Circle C Ranch by herself. He laid four solid leather enhanced swats on her no longer pristine bottom. His hand had taken care of changing that landscape.

  She sucked in air harshly and exhaled. “No, sir, I understand but really, it was not a big deal. You have to let me do what I can do. I’m not a child.” His answer was another four slaps on her now reddening bottom.

  “But we had discussed it and agreed you would wait. Then, in the dead of winter, you left without me. That’s what isn’t acceptable behavior.” Another round of four came slamming down on her burning nates.

  Her breathing was coming quicker and the sting was lingering and compounding. “I’m sorry, but I was bored. You left me with nothing to do and too much time on my hands. I needed to do something.”

  He hesitated before the next round. “Four more and you’re going to feel these. It isn’t that I think you can’t, it’s that we agreed you wouldn’t and then, you did it anyway. How am I supposed to believe you’re going to listen to anything else I say if you went against me the first time I told you no?” His heavy hand bounced off her hot and aching bottom. The sound of her stifled cries were heard over his connecting leather that completed her retribution.

  “I hope you have an idea what the penalty for going against your husband’s expressed wishes actually means for your sitting enjoyment.”

  “Good lord, I have known that for years now. You need to understand I worked hard to make it perfect for you and you’re treating me like I committed a freaking crime.”

  He kissed her hot bottom and groaned as he brought her upright. “I know you did and I love it, but I need to know you’re safe. This wasn’t the safest time to go it alone. I know you’re capable. I just wanted to keep you safe the best I could.

  Cheyenne answered from her perch gingerly sitting on Quinlan’s lap after having lain over it for an extended time, feeling the sting of her husband’s retribution and corrective action. Da had been right. Quinn had taken off his belt without hesitation and after warming her up with his hand, he fired her up with his leather. Cheyenne snuggled into Quinn’s kisses and sweet affirmation of his love. There was something about the warmth of leather. She loved it but not at the intensity of today. He wasn’t too hard on her but she would definitely notice tomorrow.

  “Quinn, you already had everything set up. This wasn’t like Liam and Jocelyn. I’m not Jocelyn. I didn’t have all of these loose ends with a quickly approaching deadline to complete everything. Honey, I truly had nothing to do but maintain the few big accounts that I have kept. And bored. I was bored and saw no reason to waste my time waiting on you to do what I could do already.”

  “And so why couldn’t you have called me and discuss this issue, to allow for my possible agreement and keep you out of trouble?”

  Cheyenne smiled wickedly and said, “Maybe I like repercussions?”

  Quinn reached over and kissed his bride of just over two months. “I’m quite positive you do, Mrs. O’Connor. It’s becoming more obvious to me that I may have to look at other means of punishment. You make me think you’re beginning to like the spankings a bit too much these days,” answered Quinn with an equally wicked smile. “I think I need to pull out some toys that your bottom doesn’t enjoy as much, hmm?”

  Cheyenne smiled and then sobered a bit and said with a pout, “No thanks. I can assure you I in no way enjoyed this. When you aren’t happy with me, your contact with my rear end is a never an enjoyable thing. I don’t want you to be upset with me and I don’t do it so you are. I don’t top for that end result, I promise.”

  Later that week, Cheyenne decided to pick up the threads of the conversation started over the weekend.

  “So I agree and I get that you’re the head of the household. I don’t care, but, Quinn, when do I get to be the boss? We discussed that my business was my business, except when it violates our house boundaries. I agreed not to top from the bottom.” Cheyenne grinned and looked over at Quinn, saying, “Unless it’s fun.” She received a playful swat on the thigh in response.

  “The minute we have children, piscín, you can be the boss.”

  “You mean in line after you, again. But what about with us, when do I get to make the decisions.”

  “As soon as the decisions you make don’t get you in trouble.” Cheyenne expressed her frustration and Quinn decided to change tactics to explain.

  “A ghrá lómhara, you make many of the choices for us already by your needs and wants made known to me, and my desire to make you happy. But no topping from the bottom, that’s what you want to do but I won’t let you.” Quinlan reached over to kiss his wife with a smile.

  “Yes, but if I were making the decisions, I shouldn’t be able to get in trouble.”

  “Except, it doesn’t work like that because as the head of this household, it’s my job and my privilege to make sure we hav
e all of our needs met. I work hard to make sure your safety is guaranteed, and I need to be responsible for whatever happens in our lives, to get us through it. I know you think you’ve done well for yourself until I came along but, Cheyenne, you were Daddy’s little girl until that intervening year between his passing and our meeting. You’re used to being protected, and taken care of, but you’re also used to getting free rein when you want. You know that isn’t how I operate.”

  Cheyenne answered with a wiggle and a dissatisfied sniff.

  “I have never operated that way and don’t intend to start. This isn’t news to you. Besides, haven’t you figured out yet that, in essence, you’re the boss because I do everything based on your needs or ours together? However, that will never mean that you can do what you want, whenever you want. What it does mean is that all your needs and most of your wants are taken care of by me. Your ability to deal with this is completely based on how much you trust me to take care of you.”

  “Fine but on the wants you don’t handle, it should be okay if I find a way to do what I can to meet my own needs.”

  “You mean without me knowing, beag amháin? Because I assure you that if I didn’t fulfill one of your desires purposely it was because it shouldn’t be filled.”

  “Maybe.”

  “You go right ahead, so long, mo mhuirnín, as you’re ready to pay the piper when I do find out.”

  “If you find out you mean.”

  “No, sweetheart, I mean when. Now kiss me so that I can get on with my lunch and get back to work.”

  Cheyenne leaned over to kiss her husband, grabbed her coffee and took off to the second bedroom they used for an office until moving onto the ranch in a couple of months. She sighed for she knew that when they moved out to the ranch, she would not see him for lunches anymore and while some days that would be good as she was busy, most days she would miss his presence and the way he made everything feel right with the world.

  Cheyenne was aware that asking to be the boss was just playing around but she did wonder how well she would be able to deal with a man who would step in and take control at any inclination of their life going off track. Even when things were going well, she found him reining her in from going too far afield and that was on a good day. How did her sisters-in-law deal with these men? Cheyenne knew that it was a conversation started before and some of the same questions she’d voiced then she now revisited because she had more information. Maybe the women just gazed on their absolute beauty and the rest didn’t matter because belonging to an O’Connor man beat running your own life alone, any day, usually.